On 3 September 2012, Stuart Johnson became the first swimmer this year to successfully complete a 2-way English Channel swim.

 On 3 September 2012, Stuart Johnson became the first swimmer this year to successfully complete a 2-way English Channel swim. He completed the crossing in a very respectable time of 24 hours, 40 minutes, with one-way splits of 11 hours 43 minutes and 12 hours 47 minutes, respectively, under pilot Mike Oram on Gallivant.

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Stuart is no stranger to the English Channel, having successfully completed a 2-way swim last year on his first channel swim attempt. He completed that swim with pilot Eddie Spelling on Anastasia in a time of 25 hours 50 minutes.

Surprisingly, Stuart had to temporarily stop training in February of this year while he recuperated from spinal surgery, having two artificial discs put into his spine.

‘I hadn’t stopped training after last year’s swim, but I had a steep ramp up after my operation,’ Stuart said.

Stuart’s training was very intense and grueling, even for the seasoned Channel swimmer. He mixed rowing and pilates into his training to balance out the long pool sessions.

‘Before I left for England, a typical training week was 15km Monday in the pool (5km with a squad and then 10km by myself) before work, and a 10km rowing set in the evening. Tuesday was a 3km sprint pool set at lunch and a 10km rowing set in the evening. Wednesday morning, 20km pool set and 1 hour pilates in the evening. Thursday was 1 hour pilates in the evening, Friday morning 15km pool set. Saturday morning was a 4-6 hour ocean swim. Sunday was a rest day.’

Stuart originally set out to do a 3-way, but unfortunately developed ulceration of his esophagus that prevented him from taking on fluids for a large proportion of his second lap. In any event, his second 2-way Channel swim in two years is meritorious and awe-inspiring for the Channel community. Well done Stuart!